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Riassunto storia dell'uomo che piantava gli alberi

40 years ago, a young man was walking in the Alpes, in Provence.

The only vegetation that existed in this land was lavender, nothing grew there, it looked like a desert. It was three days he was walking and he had no water. He was very thirsty.
He arrived to an abandoned village where there were ruined houses
Life had disappeared there.
The man saw a fountain, and he thought he could find some water there. There was a fountain, but it was dry.
Later he met an old man, he was a shepherd .
The old mad gave him some water . That man was not talkative at all, like all the people living alone. The man took him home. Inside it was neat and tidy: dishes washed, floor swept and there was some soup on the fire. The man invited him for dinner .
After dinner the old man took acorns out of a sac and examined them very attentively one by one and keeping apart the big from the small ones. He chose 100 perfect acorns and we went to bed
The next morning before leaving, the old man soaked the bag where he had put the acorns so carefully chosen, in a bucket full of water. He took an iron stick not very long and almost an inch thick and he left.

The man went out on a land and started planting his acorns.

The young man asked him whether he was the owner of that land and he answered he wasn’t. He had been planting a lot of trees for three years and lots didn’t survive. His name was Elzéard Bouffier. He had lived on a farm and fist he lost his only child and later his wife. He decided to live in solitude, to live in peace with his dog and his sheep. He thought that without trees that place would have come to an end.

The young man left and in 1914 he left for the Army, because of the outbreak of the first world war.

At the end of the war the young boy returned to that desert land.

The old man was not dead. He had changed his job. Only 5 sheep was left, but he had 100 hives. Sheep was dangerous for his trees. He didn’t care about the war and he went on planting trees. The trees he planted in 1910 now were 10 years old and they were very tall. The trees were so many and so strong that only hurricanes could destroy them.
Walking down the hillside the young man could see streams of water. Thanks to water different trees grew, together with fields, flowers and people lived in peace. But the transformation came so slowly that people were not astonished.

So nobody disturbed the work of that man. If they had suspected it, they would have hindered it. He was beyond suspicion.
In 1935 a delegation of the Government came to examine the natural forest. They decided to protect the forest and forbid people to use it to make carbon.
In 1913 the village counted just 3 inhabitants. Now all had changed. Air was not dry and the wind was blowing fast but calm and rich in perfumes.
And there water was abundant

They had taken the ruins away, pulled down the ruined walls and they had re built 5 houses. The village counted 28 inhabitants, 4 of them were young families. The new houses had gardens around them where people grew flowers and vegetables. It was a place were people wanted to live.
On the road you can meet men and ladies well dressed and healthy, boys and girls who want to have parties and enjoy themselves. More than ten thousand people are happy thanks to Elzéard Bouffier. Elzhéard Bouffier died in peace in 1947, in the old people’s home in Banon